Monday, June 12, 2006

Yes, Karl Rove, while not exactly cleared of criminal wrongdoing in the vicious outing of Valerie Plame in fulfillment of a petty vendetta against her Bush-critic husband, has gotten a “get out of jail free” card & can go back to the business of being Bush’s brain & architect of the troubled GOP’s plans to get re-elected by hook or by crook in November. (A job he was apparently born to do.)

At least, Demon Princess thinks it’s safe to assume attorneys in such sensitive positions choose their words very carefully, and what stands out to me is that the Special Prosecutor’s office did not say Rove has been cleared , nor exonerated.

According to this Washington Post article, “Special Counsel Patrick J. Fitzgerald told Rove's attorney, Robert Luskin, in a short letter delivered Monday afternoon that he ‘does not anticipate seeking charges’ against Rove in the case, Luskin said.”

That's a rather lukewarm statement from such a ballsy guy as Fitz. I have no doubt the wording of it was the subject of fierce negotiation. (*Sigh* maybe I'm just dreaming. I was so looking forward to Karl getting spanked.)

“Rove was told about 4 p.m. while aboard a Southwest Airlines flight en route to a campaign speech in New Hampshire, but he waited until early yesterday morning to publicly reveal the news.” But he hasn’t had much to say about it since--leading me to suspect that the matter remains a two-ton elephant in the room which everybody is studiously ignoring.

You’d think they’d be shouting his innocence, if it was clearly established, from the rooftops, wouldn’tcha?

that intense negotiations preceeded the blessed event, and not being privy to how things work in Special Prosecutor’s offices on highly sensitive matters such as this, I can’t tell you it’s irregular. But taking Fitz at his word, he seems not to have ruled it out entirely--the highly qualified statement says, to me, at least (a confessed non-Rove fan) rather implying "at this time, anyway" which may mean he's still weighing the evidence, or needs more-- and there’s still the weird matter of a sealed Grand Jury verdict as reported by Truth Out, yes, another indie news organization. (Demon Princess confesses to having gotten behind on her rants & was storing this report.) However, we’re apparently not going to know anything about the matter anytime soon, because the Grand Jury’s verdict was mysteriously sealed & has stayed that way.

Weird also, to me, is that Fitzgerald was apparently particularly suspicious of Rove’s initial denial of his interactions with a particular reporter, & the fact that Rove’s attorney jumped in to testify for Rove that the lawyer had had something to do with it is, well, weird. The propriety of all this is not entirely clear to me. But as I remember criminal procedure (very vaguely, admittedly), lawyers are not supposed to testify for their clients. Ah well.

Owing to the fact that Karl did, admittedly, change his testimony regarding his contacts with reporters, having "forgotten" about it in the 1st place, still leaves me deeply suspicious. After all, we're talking about the chief architect & captain of the GOP's very successful dirty-tricks campaigns.

I also know that bringing criminal charges presents a very high bar. As it should be, regardless of the fact that it leaves a lot of wiggle room for legal talent who know how to finesse it.

About Me

Former PoliSci major (still rabid), graduate of a "national" law school, former child prodigy in the literary arts (enjoyment of which law school wrecked entirely, but I hope to make up for lost time now)